The Home Depot out at end of season

According to a report on Monday from the Sporting News, citing a story in the most recent issue of the SportsBusiness Journal, longtime sponsor The Home Depot will be leaving Joe Gibbs Racing when its contract expires at the end of the season.

Joe Gibbs Racing currently fields three NASCAR Sprint Cup Series entries -- the No. 11 of Denny Hamlin, the No. 18 of Kyle Busch and the No. 20 of Matt Kenseth. The Home Depot has been a primary sponsor on the No. 20 car for at least some races each season since the No. 20 team was added to the JGR lineup in 1999.

Speculation the last few weeks has had Joe Gibbs Racing expanding to a fourth team in 2015, adding current Roush Fenway Racing driver Carl Edwards to its roster. Much of that speculation has M&M’s, currently the sponsor of Busch and the No. 18, moving to whatever car will be driven by Edwards and Monster Energy, a JGR sponsor in the Nationwide Series, moving up to Sprint Cup to be Busch’s primary sponsor.

JGR, Edwards and M&M’s are remaining tight-lipped about such an arrangement.

Where does that leave Kenseth? According to the SportsBusiness Journal report and the Sporting News, Dollar General may add more races to its deal with Joe Gibbs Racing. Recently, The Home Depot has been selling a number of its races to Dollar General. In 2014, that has put Dollar General as primary sponsor of the No. 20 for 27 of the 36 points races and two exhibition events that make up the Sprint Cup season.

Joe Gibbs Racing also isn’t commenting on the departure of The Home Depot.

Follow Stock Car Spin on Twitter @SCSblog or like Stock Car Spin on Facebook. Amanda’s also on Twitter @NASCARexaminer and has a fan/like page on Facebook: NASCAR Examiner